Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) Sets New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:EXE) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $107.00 to $112.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Chesapeake Energy traded as high as $112.23 and last traded at $111.32, with a volume of 3077151 shares. The stock had previously closed at $110.94.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on EXE. Scotiabank upgraded Chesapeake Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $105.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $116.00 target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $137.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Chesapeake Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Chesapeake Energy from $119.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.24.

Insider Transactions at Chesapeake Energy

In related news, CEO Domenic J. Dell’osso, Jr. bought 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $99.50 per share, with a total value of $248,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 107,845 shares in the company, valued at $10,730,577.50. This represents a 2.37 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 58.00% of the company’s stock.

Chesapeake Energy Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.29 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $104.48.

Chesapeake Energy (NASDAQ:EXE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. Chesapeake Energy had a return on equity of 2.74% and a net margin of 6.07%. The company had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Chesapeake Energy Corporation will post 1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Chesapeake Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.575 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Chesapeake Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -55.83%.

Chesapeake Energy Company Profile

Expand Energy Corporation is an independent natural gas producer principally in the United States. Expand Energy Corporation, formerly known as Chesapeake Energy Corporation, is based in OKLAHOMA CITY.